Summer vacation is over. High school football players took to the practice fields with their coaches for the first time on Monday to begin preparations for the 2014 season.

Workouts for all fall sports will also begin this week across the Cape and Islands. It might still be August, but a December date for a Super Bowl at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro is on the minds of football teams.

Hopes are high at Dennis-Yarmouth for a return trip. Last year, the Dolphins lost a 28-26 heartbreaker to Doherty High of Worcester in the Division 4 title game. But there's a lot of fine-tuning of fundamentals and sweat to be shed from now to then.

The MIAA's playoff system, which debuted in 2013, requires a healthy dose of good fortune and skill to successfully maneuver a seven-game season, three or four playoff or consolation games, a Thanksgiving rivalry and then, perhaps, a super finish.